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Overview

Wireless LANs Are On the Rise. Are You Prepared to Seize the Opportunity?

Here is the network professional's guide to the new standards, products, and broadband options that make wireless networks as fast and reliable as wired ones.

Wireless LANs are on the brink of living up to their promise of mobility, speed, ease of installation, and lower cost of ownership as compared to wired ones. Recent market drivers such as the newly adopted 802.11b standard for improved data rates, new product classes, better pricing, and emerging broadband access markets for home and business have ushered in the era of wireless LANs. And network managers suddenly need to know all about them — what they're good at, how to operate them, and what to buy.

In Deploying Wireless LANs, Gil Held clearly and thoroughly explains how to plan and build wireless LANs capable of supporting mobile devices and applications. Gil, the author of over 20 books, uses a straightforward, jargon-free style — and no background in radio frequency engineering is necessary to understand it all.

Packed with easy-to-understand information, Deploying Wireless LANs:

Covers 802.11a, Home RF, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi

Details how to make your 802.11 LAN fully compliant with 802.3 and Bluetooth

Explains common access points and how they're changing LAN options

Introduces basic transmission troubleshooting techniques

This is a must-have resource for network managers and integrators, mobile device vendors, access providers and anyone else who wants to ride the upcoming wireless LAN wave.

Preface

Preface

A few years ago a popular TV commercial closed with the saying "the future is now." In the wonderful world of data communications the future has arrived in the form of wireless LANs. Once considered a niche technology that was expensive and limited with respect to its data transfer capability, wireless LANs are now reaching into every corner of our lives. If we travel we will more than likely encounter public areas in airports and hotel lobbies equipped with access points that enable us to surf the Web, check e-mail, and perform other activities using our laptop, notebook, or PDA equipped with a compatible wireless LAN adapter. If we check into a hotel, visit a sporting event, or register for a college course, we may also encounter persons using computers with a wireless LAN capability to access data from servers and main-frames by first connecting to an access point on a wired LAN behind the scenes.

The ability to transmit and receive data without having a wired connection frees us to locate computing equipment nearer to the area where it is useful. If you visit a modern big city hotel lobby you may encounter a reception area in the middle of an atrium. Behind the counter a hotel employee has a computer connected to the hotel LAN. However, instead of a wire connection that might require the lobby floor to be dug up, the connection occurs via a wireless LAN. Not only is the connection less expensive but the time required to place the computer into operation behind the reception area is probably a small fraction of the time that would be required to establish a wired connection.

In a university environment it becomes possible to set up regis- tration stations in a gymnasium very rapidly without running cables and having to temporarily tape them to the floor to allevi- ate the potential of students, administrators, and faculty tripping. Similarly, libraries can add and remove workstation connections to the Internet in tandem with special events they may hold.

In a home or apartment environment it is becoming common fo r a digital subscriber line (DSL)or cable modem to be installed to obtain a high-speed broadband access capability. One key nontechnical problem associated with the use of DSL and cable modems is the fact that your existing telephone and cable outlets may not be located in close proximity to your computer. Another related problem is the fact that many homes and apartments have multiple computers. Rather than rewire twisted pair or coaxial cable you can save time, avoid drilling holes in walls, and possibly save some money by installing a wireless LAN.

To day a wireless LAN provides us with the ability to communicate from locations that were previously difficult or impossible to support via wires. In addition, they provide a significant degree of flexibility and allow us to respond to changing requirements in a timely manner. Thus, when you think about networking, you should also think about wireless networking. When you do you will realize that the future is now!

As a professional author I value reader feedback. Although I have attempted to provide practical information throughout this book, I am human. To err is to be human, so if I omitted an area you feel I should have covered, spent too much time on a topic or assumed reader knowledge where a fuller explanation was warranted, please contact me. You can reach me either through my publisher, whose address is included on the jacket of this book or you can contact me via e-mail at gil-held@yahoo.com.

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